Needle jack pusher



Feb. 21, 1939.

L. ROBACZYNSIKI NEEDLE JACK PUSHER Filed Aug. 28, 1956 NVENTOR.

ATTORNY Patented Feb. 2l, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT oFFlcE 1 Claim.

This invention relates to new and useful imj provements in knittingmachines and more particularly it pertains to knitting machinesgenerally known in the art as links and links type. 5` Links and linksknitting machines employ two flat needle beds mounted in the same plane.Each needle bed is provided with channels or grooves in which needles,needle jacks and needle jack pushers or sinkers travel to perform theVarious knitting operations. Such machines also employ a jacquardmechanismgenerally including `a series of pattern cards provided withopenings.` To produce various knitting patterns, cer- W tain of theseopenings are plugged in such a manl5` ner that as the jacquard mechanismis operated, the plugs will engage certain of the needle jack pushersand move them, together withthe needle jacks and needles into knittingposition or into operative position relatively to the carriage of thezomachinesin order that these needles may be causedto perform `aknitting operation. Such openings inthe'jacquard cards as have not beenplugged receive the ends of their corresponding jack pushers and do noteffect an operation thereof. q

'I'he beds of machines of the type above mentioned vary. That is to saythat the beds may be of different gauge, for example, a nine gauge bedis a bed in which there are nineneedles to the inch; a seven gauge bedis a bed in which there are but seven needles to the inch. In machinesof this type generally, the beds are interchangeable and it often is thecase that beds of two or more diiTerent gauges will be supplied witheach machine.

It is the established practice in the art to con-v struct the beds `withthe needle channels deeper in the beds of lower gauge than is the casein beds of higher gauge. For example, in needle beds of the so-calledseven gauge type, the needle channels are deeper than vis thev case invneedle beds of the nine gauge type.

This practice'has a decided disadvantage in that, when one set of bedsof one gauge is re moved from a machine and substituted with anotherset, it requires an adjustment of the jac- 1 quard mechanism. This willbe readily understood by reason of the fact that in a nine gauge bed,because of the fact that needle channelsA are shallower, the openings inthe jacquard pattern cards will register with and receive the ends ofthe needle jack pushers. However, when a lower gauge bed is placed uponsuch a machine, the needle jack channels being deeper than in the ninegauge bed, the rear ends of the needle jack pushers and the openings inthe jacquard pattern cards do not register and in order to effect thedesired operation, the entire jacquard bar around which the patterncards pass, must be lowered to prevent interference of the lower edge ofthe 5 opening in the pattern cards with the lower edge of the needlejack pushers. Obviously, each time 'the needle beds placed upon themachine are of a different gauge than those for which the new needlebeds are substituted, an adjustment of the 10 jacquard mechanism isnecessary. l p

This adjustment of the jacquard mechanism is generally accomplished inmachines as they are commonly constructed, by a substitution of bearingsand bearing lugs for mounting the jacquard 15' bar, which operation isof a more or less tedious and time consuming nature.

It is an object of the present invention tov provide a new and improvedconstruction by means of which any adjustment of the jacquard mecha- 20'nism is unnecessary whensubstituting needle beds of one gauge for bedsof a different gauge. p

` It is a further object of the invention to accom plish the objectafore-mentioned by employing a needle jack pusher of new and novelconstruction.

Still a further object of the invention resides in the provision of anew and novel form of needle jack pusher which may be more readilyplaced in and removed from operative position in the needle bed, than ispossible with needle jack pushers as go generally constructed.

With the above and other objects in View, reference will be had to theaccompanying drawing,

in which:

Figure l is a fragmentary transverse sectional 35% view taken in aVertical plane of the rear portion of a knitting machine bed andjacquardmechamsm, l

Figure 2 is a similar view with the jacquard mechanism removed,illustrating the manner in which the new and improved jack pusher may bemore easily removed from the needle bed channels,

Figure 3 is a perspective view of the improved needle jack pusher, and;45

Figure vl is a View similar to Figure l illustrating the manner ofoperation of the new and improved needle jack pusher as compared to aneedle jack pusher of conventional type.

Referring to the drawing by reference char- 50 acter, l0 designates aportion of the knitting machine frame, l2 one of the needle beds and I4one of the channels in the needle beds in which the jacks I6 and jackpushers I8 ride. Mountedkto the rear of the needle bed l2 there 55 is ajacquard bar 20 which is rotated or oscillated as the case may be.Passing around this jacquard bar 20 there is a series of jacquard cards22 hingedly connected together as at 23. These cards carry openings 24and certain of the openings are adapted to be closed by plugs 26.

So far as described the construction is of conventional form andoperates in the following manner. With the parts in the position inwhich they are shown in Figure 1 in full lines, when the jacquard bar ismoved forwardly to its dotted line position in said figure, the rear endof the jack pushers will enter the openings 24 in the jacquard patterncards which do not carry plugs, while those openings which are plugged,will be closed by the plug in such manner Vthat the plugs will engagethe rear ends of their respective needle jack pushers I8 and move thesame forwardly into engagement with the needle jacks I6 and force themforward to position to be picked up by the cams of the carriage, whichlatter are not shown.

A needle jack pusher constructed in accordance with the presentinvention is illustrated in Figure 3 and comprises a main body portion30 having a jack engaging nose 32 and a butt 34 for engagement in thecamways of the carriage in the ordinary manner. These needle jackpushers are mounted in the channel I4 of the needle bed upon one edge,which edge is designated 36 and when the jack pushers are in operativeposition in the carriage this edge is the lower or bottom edge and ridesupon the bottom wall of its respective channel I4 with the butt 34standing upwardly above the top surface of the needle bed as illustratedin Figure 1.

In Figure 1 I have illustrated the invention applied to a needle bed,the gauge of which is nine. In Figure 4, I have illustrated by dottedlines the increased depth of the needle bed channels when the gauge isdecreased or approximately what it would be in a needle bed of the sevengauge type. In said Figure 4, the dotted line 38 designates the bottomof the channel in a seven gauge bedy and it will be noted that this line38 is in a plane appreciably lower than the plane of the bottom wall ofthe nine gauge needle bed illustrated in Figure l. It will be obviousthat if a seven gauge bed be employed in the machine, as the jacquardbar comes forward the lower edge of the openings in the jacquard cardscarried thereby, would engage the rear ends of the needle pack pushersand would, therefore, operate all of said needle pack pushers. Asheretofore stated, it is, therefore, necessary to adjust the jacquardbar when a bed of lower gauge is used.

To obviate the necessity of making adjustments of the jacquard bar fromits higher position to one of its lower positions when a bed of lowergauge is substituted for a bed of higher gauge or to raise the jacquardbar when a needle bed of higher gauge is substituted for a needle bed oflower gauge, I reduce the width of the rear end of the needle jackpusher as indicated at 40 in Figure 3. I prefer to reduce the width ofthe needle jack pusher by cutting out a prtion of the under edge 36thereof, as at 42, and continuing the portion 44 at an angle so that theend 40 will be of a width approximately or a little less than one-halfof the width of the main body portion 30 of the needle jack pusher.

By reference to Figure 4 it will be noted that the dotted line 38 whichwould be the limit of depth of channels in needle beds of relatively lowgauge, clearly passes the lower edge of the opening 24 in the jacquardcard which is in operative position in said figure, it being understoodthat in this gure, the jacquard bar 20 has not been adjusted.

As heretofore stated the needle jack pushers ride in the channels upontheir lower edge and this cut out portion 42 is formed upon the loweredge so that regardless of the gauge of needle bed employed, the jackpushers will at all times properly register with and pass into suchopenings of the jacquard pattern cards as are not closed by plugs 26 andthis without adjustment of the jacquard bar 2U.

Another advantage of such a construction resides in the fact that itprovides a rocking or tilting point 50 upon the lower edge of the needlejack pusher and about which the needle jack may be rocked by engagementof a tool 52 with its rear end, thus elevating the forward end of thejack pusher to a position where it may be easily or readily gripped bythe hand and thereby removed from the needle bed.

From the foregoing it will be apparent that the present inventionprovides a new and improved construction of needle jack pusher which iscapable of use in needle beds of all gauges without requiring theadjustment of the jacquard bar as is the case in all present machines ofthis type with which I am familiar.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new, is:

A needle jack pusher comprising a relatively thin elongated body portionadapted in operation to ride upon one of its edges, said member having aportion of its riding edge cut away to provide a vrelatively longreduced tapering rear end extension and a fulcrum about which the jackpusher may be rocked to elevate the forward end thereof.

LADISLAUS ROBACZYNSKI.

